If there is one thing that has defined Marc Bergevin’s time as general manager of the Canadiens, a tenure that will be six years long in May, it has been the drama surrounding the No 1 centre position.

He inherited a team without a clear-cut No 1 centre, thought he got that centre in the 2012 draft when he took Alex Galchenyuk with the No 3 pick, had Galchenyuk bounce from the wing to centre to the wing to centre and to the wing again, then went out and traded his top prospect for the next No 1 centre.

That guy was Jonathan Drouin, someone who played centre in junior but never as a professional, someone who Bergevin immediately signed to a six-year, $33 million contract and anointed as the next No 1 centre of the Canadiens at the season-opening golf tournament.

Meanwhile, at that same event, Bergevin spoke in terms he had never used before to make absolutely certain no one thought Galchenyuk would ever play centre again, or at least not in the medium-term...

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